Our little Birthday Santa

Harrison was a night owl last night. When I arrived home at 7:30pm, he was just waking up from his nap, so I figured one of two things would happen: 1) he would eat dinner and go right back to sleep watching a movie, or 2) he would be up very, very late. When he had a major meltdown due to getting water in a sippy-cup rather than bottled water, I figured it would be the latter.

Yesterday was my brother Shane’s birthday, and while we celebrated it Monday, Harrison and Mommy bought the present yesterday to drop off at my mom’s for him to receive when he returned from a night at the Police concert. We came up with a great themed present to go along with his night of Police, and while I made up the card, Harrison wanted to wrap the presents. I didn’t understand what he was saying at first “I WANNA WAP ‘SENTS!” Finally, he was able to slow down and tell me that he wanted to get wrapping paper to wrap Shane’s gifts. So, we went up stairs and picked out the least feminine looking gift bag we could find, and two pieces of “wrapping paper” or tissue paper, we came down stairs, and I taught Harrison how to wrap a gift in a gift bag using tissue paper.

I then told him that I was going to go to Grandma’s to drop it off for his uncle. “Uncle Shane’s at Grandma’s?” He asked as his brow curled up and his head titled to one side.

“No, Uncle Shane is at a concert, but I am going to leave it for him to open when he gets home.”

With this I could tell his little mind was racing with questions and trying to piece it all together. But then he said something that was truly hilarious and imaginative. “Like Santa?” He said and then smiled, like he knew that what just came out of his mouth was adorable.

Katy and I laughed and agreed that it was kind of like a Santa-mission, leaving a present for someone to open later without us there. Then Harrison indicated that he wanted to play Santa. Despite my urge to reply with a quote from A Christmas story, “No Ralphie, you played Santa last year,” I refrained. I looked at my watch, then at Katy and said, “It’s 9:30...What do you think” Again, Katy thought it a great plan for him to play Santa, then fall asleep on the drive home, so we went along with it.

I don’t know if I ever saw him so happy. He smiled, laughed, and jumped up and down. He was so happy it was cliché. But it showed me in a real concrete way that giving can be so much fun. And that is mostly why I agreed to take Harrison out at 9:30 at night, despite the neighbors looking at me like I was crazy for taking a 3 year old out at such a late hour.

Our mission was successful. Go to Grandma’s, print card, leave it for Shane. Harrison even got a bonus—leftover birthday cake. A little stale, but good. However, I believe this was a mistake on my part. Too much sugar, too late. The thought crossed my mind, but my irrational side said It is so late and he is so tired that he will still fall asleep. On the drive home, I kept looking in the rearview to see that his eyes were wide open. Uh-oh, too much stimulation + too much sugar = up way too late. When we got home, he wasn’t asleep, and he was bargaining for 5 minutes (which is never 5 minutes). It turned out to be nearly 11:30pm before he finally went to sleep. One of the latest nights he has ever had. But, as I think back, being Santa is a very important job and requires one to stay up late. The small price to pay is his Christmas-in-July hangover that my wife will need to deal with today. Merry Christmas, Katy!